2 Are Wounded, Including an Off-Duty Officer, in a Shooting in Queens

An off-duty city police officer responding to a woman’s screams during a violent assault in a Queens home on Sunday night was shot in the left hand as he struggled with the man assaulting her, the police said. The man was also hit once as the two men grappled for the officer’s gun, the police said.

The officer and the woman, who suffered lacerations to the head and required at least nine stitches, were taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in stable condition, the police said. The man, identified by the police as Jose Bernazard, 40, was also taken to Jamaica hospital where he was listed in critical condition.

The violent episode erupted around 10 p.m. on a residential block of Jamaica. The officer, Joseph Koch, 29, had been attending a barbecue at the home of his fiancée’s father when he heard what sounded to be a woman screaming “Don’t kill me” from a nearby home, said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman.

As Officer Koch rushed in the direction of the two-story white house at 144-22 South Road, he saw a young boy roughly 10-years-old yelling, “He’s trying to kill my mother,” Mr. Browne said.

The officer entered the home with his gun drawn and identified himself as a police officer. At that point, “he is rushed by a male,” Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said, standing in front of the hospital early Monday morning.

In the ensuing close-quarter struggle with the man, the gun went off three times, striking Officer Koch and Mr. Bernazard. A third shot did not hit anyone. It was not clear exactly how the gun went off or if others beside the couple were in the house at the time. Mr. Bernazard had a prior arrest for attempting to strangle the woman, 33, and she had an order of protection against him, Mr. Browne said.

Moments before the shooting, he had been outside the home, banging on the front door and demanding to be let in; he eventually climbed through a window and began beating the woman, Mr. Browne said. Witnesses in the area described a chaotic scene as a balmy Father’s Day evening drew many people outside.

Mr. Kelly said that Officer Koch works as a domestic violence officer at the 101st Precinct. He described the injury as a “through-and-through” bullet piercing that shattered bones in the officer’s hand; he was waiting to be operated on early Monday morning, Mr. Kelly said.

“He’s in a lot of pain, but he’s in relatively good spirits,” he added.

Joseph Goldstein contributed reporting.

A version of this article appears in print on June 17, 2013, on page A14 of the New York edition with the headline: 2 Are Wounded, Including an Off-Duty Officer, in a Shooting in Queens. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe